'Growing Impact' discusses environmental contaminants, human health
| psu.edu
Environmental contaminants don’t just pose direct risks to human health — they may also have hidden effects through the microbiome that researchers are working to uncover. The latest episode of Growing Impact discusses how environmental contaminants affect human health, a research focus for Penn State professors Andrew Patterson and Costas Maranas.
Creating and sustaining health care reform in a shifting landscape
| psu.edu
Devon Trolley, executive director of Pennie, Pennsylvania’s health insurance marketplace, will deliver the 27th annual Stanley P. Mayers Endowed Lecture on April 1. Trolley's talk, “The Journey of Health Care Reform: Creating and Sustaining Large-scale Change in a Constantly Shifting Landscape,” will take place at 6 p.m. in the Hintz Family Alumni Center on Penn State's University Park campus. Free and open to the public, the lecture also will be available via Zoom.
Synthetic microbiome therapy suppresses bacterial infection without antibiotics
| psu.edu
A synthetic microbiome therapy, tested in mice, holds promise as a new treatment for C. difficile, a notoriously difficult-to-treat bacterial infection, according to a team of researchers at Penn State. The targeted treatment was as effective as human fecal transplants in mice against C. difficile infection with fewer safety concerns, protecting against severe symptoms and decreasing recurrent infections.
Growing Impact: PFAS and human health
| Featuring Andrew Patterson, Costas Maranas
PFAS, synthetic chemicals found in countless everyday products, have made their way into humans and animals around the globe. Although their health effects remain unclear, their widespread presence raises important questions. Scientists are now investigating whether these chemicals might disrupt the human gut microbiome, potentially impacting our health in unexpected ways.
New computer vision system can guide specialty crops monitoring
| psu.edu
Soilless growing systems inside greenhouses, known as controlled environment agriculture, promise to advance the year-round production of high-quality specialty crops, according to an interdisciplinary research team at Penn State. But to be competitive and sustainable, this advanced farming method will require the development and implementation of precision agriculture techniques. To meet that demand, the team developed an automated crop-monitoring system capable of providing continuous and frequent data about plant growth and needs, allowing for informed crop management.
Medtronic Chairman, CEO Geoff Martha to give keynote at Venture and IP Conference
| psu.edu
Geoff Martha, chairman and CEO of global healthcare technology company Medtronic, will be the keynote speaker at the 2025 Invent Penn State Venture & IP Conference on April 10–11 at the Penn Stater Conference Center. His fireside chat with Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi will take place at noon on April 10.
Penn State Harrisburg grows Research Experience for Undergraduates initiative
| psu.edu
Penn State Harrisburg’s Office of Research and Outreach has provided funding to support 12 undergraduate research projects, involving 21 students, during the 2024-25 academic year, through a new initiative designed to support and grow undergraduate research opportunities on campus.
Penn State Ag student Auja Bywater wins global research award
| psu.edu
Auja Bywater, a doctoral student in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been awarded second prize in the Global Challenges University Alliance 2030 research competition.
Penn State professors explore partnership opportunities in Kazakhstan
| psu.edu
In November of 2024, two professors from the Penn State College of Engineering — Igor Aronson, Huck Chair Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, and Mathematics, and Slava V. Rotkin, Frontier Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics, and professor of Physics and of biomedical engineering — visited four leading research universities in Kazakhstan to deepen and expand strategic collaboration.
Penn State ranked a 2024-25 top producer of Fulbright U.S. scholars, students
| psu.edu
Penn State has tied for second in the nation in faculty Fulbright U.S. Scholar Awards and is a top producer of Fulbright U.S. Student Awards among doctoral institutions for the 2024-25 academic year.
Register now for Penn State’s largest undergraduate academic exhibition
| psu.edu
Registration is now open for the 2025 Undergraduate Exhibition, Penn State’s largest and most inclusive academic undergraduate event.
This Pennsylvania landfill sends radioactive waste into a nearby creek—and fracking has only made it worse
| fastcompany.com
In a rural pocket of western Pennsylvania, along the leafy banks of Sewickley Creek, a small, jagged pipe juts just above the waterline, its cement casing carpeted in moss. This article quotes Nathaniel Warner, associate professor of environmental engineering.